See You on Wodensday

Like somebody lacking his front teeth, Germans have a day in the middle of the week without a name. That day in question is Mittwoch, which literary means ‘mid-week’. Of course this is not a name, but just a utilitarian description. Sometime in the Middle Ages the Christian authorities decided it was a good idea to remove the name of the main Germanic God from the week so Wodenstag from Old High German (Óŏensdagr in Old Norse) was erased from the minds of the German Volk. They succeeded also in Iceland (of all places) where the day in question was renamed Miðvikudagur, also translated as ‘mid-week’, which is quite paradoxical taking into account the (questionable) pagan revival this country has been going through in the last few decades. Fortunately enough, they failed in countries like Norway, Denmark, Sweden, England and The Netherlands where all astrological names were kept, including that of the main pagan deity (Onsdag for the three Scandinavian nations, Wednesday and Woendag respectively for the other two).

In Southern European countries all Latin astrological names remained somewhat intact, except for Greece and Portugal. Slavic Europe also met a similar fate as the two aforementioned countries. The names of the week were replaced either by Christian monikers or numerical names without substance. Latvians and Lithuanians, who were converted to the Universal Religion Inc. a bit later, were given the same ‘utilitarian’ treatment when the names of their week-days were changed in the same way, thus cutting their daily umbilical cord from their ancestral past.

Again this pattern repeated itself in countries like Estonia. Fortunately, thanks to its Scandinavian connection Finland was spared of this curse. All the days of the Finnish week remained untouched except for the one day dedicated to Odin, which became known as Keskiviikko. I suppose the reader must have guessed already what this ‘name’ means.

Why call it ‘mid-week’ for Wod’s sakes?

Christians, like the members of the other two Abrahamic religions, start their week on Sunday (The Day of The Lord). The scheme is similar to the one originated in ancient Babylon, which both Greeks and Romans also shared. At some point, some 100 years ago, this was officially changed to Monday as the first day of the week (as in the international standard ISO 8601) in the whole of the Western World. However, one can still see the old arrangement in some contemporary calendars, in which the week starts on Sunday (check your computer’s calendar for instance). In spite of all this, the name ‘middle-of-the-week’ remained otherwise in the Christian countries in which it replaced the old name for ‘Wednesday’, even if the ‘Monday-as-first-day-of-the-week’ arrangement became much more widespread.

Now check how perfidious these Christian moguls were: instead of replacing Woden by some other deity (be it a Saint or whatever) they left the German ‘Wednesday’ practically unnamed. They just left a vacuum, an unfilled void (again, ‘Mittwoch’ does not posses any etymology). Why?

Fear of retribution?

I guess Wodenstag (Wednesday) became at some point a sort of ‘contender-day’ to the Christian ‘Day of the Lord’ (Sunday) since Wotan carried much spiritual weight for the die-hard Pagan peasantry of the early Middle Ages. On this particular respect it makes me think of Wotan as being the ‘Unnameable One’, the ‘Ancient Dark God’ as it is presented in the 1960’s film by Ingmar Bergman The Virgin Spring. It is tantalizing to think that these Christian bishops still felt some kind of ‘fear’ for the deity, so they opted (in the case of German, Icelandic and Finnish calendars) to leave the day emptied of any name whatsoever. Remember, Wotan is among other things the ‘God of Death’ so these people (despite the relation with the god Mercury/Hermes) might had actually seen some kind of ‘connection’ between Wotan and Hades, the Greek chthonic ‘God of Death’, perhaps due to some kind of residual projection of Hellenistic origin in their psyches. From wikipedia:

Hades, god of the dead, was a fearsome figure to those still living; in no hurry to meet him, they were reluctant to swear oaths in his name, and averted their faces when sacrificing to him. Since to many, simply to say the word “Hades” was frightening, euphemisms were pressed into use.

But these are just my pseudo-intellectual conjectures. They probably left that empty void out of pure spite. To illustrate how these people felt about our ancient astrological days, here there is an out-of-context quote which should be somewhat revealing:

Truly, brothers, we must scorn and reject those filthy names (ipsa sordissima nomina dedignemur)… and never say Dies Martis, Dies Mercurii, Dies Iovis, … but name the days Prima Feria, Secunda Feria, Tertia Feria, … according to what is written in the Bible.”
-Ascribed to Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, 5th Century CE (Holman 1994)

I also have to remark that this insipidly Biblical, non-creative way of naming the days of the week by numerical numbers is also present in both Jewish and Arabic religions. That should come as no surprise.

To finish with this dissertation, there is another quote by an Icelandic Christian ‘converso’ called Hjalti Skeggiason, a character in Njáls Saga. Even if this book is probably not entirely historical, the quote is a good representation on how some people felt about the old Pagan gods in that period:

Ever will I Gods blaspheme
Freyja methinks a dog does seem,
Freyja a dog? Aye! Let them be
Both dogs together Odin and she!

Conclusion

It is amazing to me that the name ‘Wotan’ itself (Óðinn, Wōden, Wôdan, Wǒđanaz…) was able to survive in such a hostile climate all through the Middle Ages. It makes me think that ‘Wotan’ was considered either an insult or a forbidden word. It seems almost a miracle (if I may use such a word in this context) that most of the days of the week still maintain their original astrological names in so many countries in Western Europe (save for the names for ‘Saturday’ and ‘Sunday’ in most Southern European countries) .

I have been thinking recently if our race is to survive on European soil, then the future generations of certain countries should consider the idea of recovering their ‘lost name of the week’. Perhaps other countries will follow suit with their respective ‘lost names’ as well. The Wanderer will return to his Germanic kingdom (just like Odysseus did when he returned to Ithaca) and sit back on his empty throne in the ‘middle-of-the-week’. German volk will say ‘bis Wodenstag!’ to one another as they did in ancient days. I entertain the idea that maybe this will signal the beginning of a ‘New Germanic Age’ of exploration, invention and new possibilities, who knows? Once the obfuscating thick fog of Judeo-Christianity dissipates (it is getting thinner by the day) the Children of Odin will be able to understand clearly who their true All-Father was all this time. Then the future will belong to them.

Hail Wotan!

Notes

My remarks on the Icelandic pagan revival being ‘questionable’ go in relation to the Ásatrúarfélagið organization and their very execrable policies of allowing gay marriages among other ‘inclusivist’ tendencies of liberal tinge.

Robert Heimdal

Robert Heimdal lives somewhere in Europe, struggling to get himself a future in the midst of this current new Dark Age. He is trying to acquire the gift of foreknowledge for the benefit of his fellow European men & women the world over.

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Lothar

I highly encourage all Aryan brothers and sisters to study our early European religions. At least look into them. For me, when I took up Odinism, it was like a breath of fresh air! If you’ve ever gotten into genealogy and found out the names of your ancestors and how you are related, it gives you a palpable sense of who you are. It is much the same with a native religion, it gives you back the tribal feeling that is lost in a universalist religion and solidifies your sense of belonging. As Stephen McNallen aptly puts… Read more »